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Although tobacco companies claim to be responding to adult tobacco users' demand for variety, it's clear <br /> that flavored tobacco products play a key role in enticing new users, particularly kids, to a lifetime of <br /> addiction. This growing market of flavored tobacco products is undermining progress in reducing youth <br /> tobacco use. <br /> Flavored Tobacco Products Are Popular Among Youth <br /> These sweet products have fueled the popularity of e-cigarettes and cigars among youth. A <br /> government study found that eight out of ten of kids who have ever used tobacco products started <br /> with a flavored product. 11 Across all tobacco products, the data is clear: flavored tobacco products are <br /> overwhelmingly used by youth as a starter product, and preference for flavors declines with age. <br /> The 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey shows that among high school students, e-cigarette use <br /> declined to 19.6% in 2020, after increasing by an alarming 135 percent from 2017 to 2019 (from 11.7% <br /> to 27.5%).12 While the significant decline in youth users since 2019 is a sign of progress, youth e- <br /> cigarette use remains a public health crisis. 3.6 million kids still use e-cigarettes—the same number as <br /> when the U.S. Surgeon General called youth e-cigarette use an "epidemic."13 <br /> In California, 8.2%of high school students report using e-cigarettes. The California Student Tobacco <br /> Survey found that an increasing proportion of these youth are using flavored products (96.2% in 2019- <br /> 2020, up from 86.4% in 2017-2018). Among California high school e-cigarette users, the most <br /> commonly used flavor types are fruit (63.9%), mint or menthol (14.7%) and candy or sweet (13%) 14 <br /> Almost all e-cigarettes contain nicotine, a highly addictive drug. Young people are especially vulnerable <br /> to nicotine addiction.15 The Surgeon General has concluded that, "The use of products containing <br /> nicotine in any form among youth, including in e-cigarettes, is unsafe."16The manufacturer of JUUL, a <br /> popular e-cigarette among youth, claims that each JUUL pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of <br /> twenty cigarettes. Since the introduction of Juul, many youth are now using products that effectively <br /> deliver massive doses of nicotine and it is clear that large numbers of teen e-cigarette users are <br /> struggling with nicotine addiction. <br /> Youth e-cigarette users are also at risk of smoking cigarettes. A 2018 report from the National <br /> Academies of Science, Engineering & Medicine found that "There is substantial evidence that e- <br /> cigarette use increases risk of ever using combustible tobacco cigarettes among youth and young <br /> adults."17 More recent research confirms this finding.18 Therefore, it is critical for any policy restricting <br /> sales of flavored tobacco products to include e-cigarettes. <br /> In January 2020, the FDA restricted some flavors in cartridge-based e-cigarettes, but exempted all <br /> menthol-flavored e-cigarettes and left flavored e-liquids and disposable e-cigarettes widely available in <br /> every imaginable flavor. New data show that the market share of these products has grown <br /> substantially and that youth quickly migrated to the flavored products that were exempt from the <br />